The Gijinka Arc, Chapter 4: Vs Mewtwo
The Pokemon Gijinka and their partners stood at the entraceway to the Pokemon Centre, staring at the spot where that person once stood.
"Who was that?" Red broke the awkward silence.
Blue ignored him and pushed his way through the jostling crowd that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It seemed as though the appearance of the strange figure caused the crowd to dissipate, and they now came back like the surge of a wave.
"H-hey! Wait up!" Red called after Blue, as he elbowed his way through and entered the Pokemon Centre. Inside, people and Pokemon were running all over the place, the usually empty Cinnabar Island Pokemon Centre bustling with activity.
"What's going on?" Blue asked the nurse at the reception desk.
"Oh, there's a large scale tournament that's being held in the new Stadium they built over the old Cinnabar Mansion after the volcano erupted last year, that's why we've been so busy of late." The nurse replied, rushing to tend to an injured Kanghaskan that was rolled in on a stretcher by two Blisseys.
"Oh wow! A tournament!" Red exclaimed, looking a poster on the wall behind the reception desk.
"That's not what we're here for." Chris chided Red, and grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and fished out Aerodactyl's Pokeball from Red's belt. "Could you help us with this Aerodactyl?" She asked the nurse who took over the reception desk. The nurse looked identical to the one before her, a trait of Pokemon Centre nurses that no one could fully explain.
"I'm sorry," The nurse said, "All our facilities are full at the moment, due to the tournament. I could put you on the waiting list, but unfortunately, tournament patients are top priority at the moment."
Chris turned slightly red with anger, "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm sure Blaine will treat us better." She pulled Red and Blue by the collar and gruffly dragged them out of the Pokemon Centre, with Pika, Charizard and Yellow following behind her. "Why me?" He heard Blue sigh, and turned around. His friend and rival had his arms crossed, as he resigned to his fate of being dragged around by their junior.
They walked straight past the busy town centre, and soon stood at the entrance to Blaine's lab, which was rather conveniently located at the base of the Cinnabar Volcano. "There's unlimited energy here, and the energy's clean." Blaine used to say, when people complained about how inaccessible his lab entrance was.
Chris looked around for some indication of a doorbell, but could not find any. She paced back and forth, drumming her fingers on her arm. Just when she took out her Pokegear to call Blaine, the doors of the lab slid open, with the 'woosh' sounds of a hydraulic system. In the doorway stood a lab assistant, barely a few years older than Red, donning a strangely shaped lab coat, with two shoulder pads that connected at his torso, and a split down the centre, revealing a pair of purple pants and white boots. He had purple hair with two tufts pointing upwards. His gloved hands were crossed, and he tapped a foot impatiently.
"Hmph, took you long enough." The lab assistant said.
"Since when did Blaine hire a lab assistant?" Chris leaned towards Red.
Red was just as puzzled, but he did not let it faze him. He walked towards the open door, while staring at the boy in front of him.
"Have we met somewhere before?" Red finally asked, when he was face to face with him.
The lab assistant turned around, "What, it's been less than a year, and you can't recognize me? Hmph, humans have such bad memory." He said, sternly, or rather, Red thought he heard him say. His mouth did not move, yet he heard the words resound in his head.
Red suddenly realized who he was speaking to, and his mouth dropped open.
"Mewtwo?" The three humans chorused. They stood there and stared at the genetic pokemon, or what used to be the genetic pokemon. Mewtwo merely smiled and led the group into the lab.
Red quickly caught up to Mewtwo, who led them down the winding path, deeper into the volcano, "But how? When?" He asked, intrigued at the humanoid Pokemon.
"It was merely a matter of time. I was born with the DNA of a human, after all. I merely returned to my roots." Mewtwo said, and led the group into the main lab.
Blaine was standing over a table, his research notes all over the table and floor, with some even stuck to the wall with spoons as tacks, scratching his already bald head. "I bet that was Mewtwo's work, the spoons that is.." Red whispered to blue, who ignored him as usual.
"Ah, you're finally here!" Blaine regarded his guests, turning around.
"Blaine!" Red ran forward, and took his old friend by the hand, "How are you? I haven't seen you since Cerise Island!"
"I'm doing very well, thanks for asking," Blaine returned Red's handshake, "During the Gym Leaders' tournament in Johto, I had Entei cure me of the DNA link to Mewtwo, so my arm has stopped degenerating." Blaine showed the group his healed arm.
"Yeah, I know about that, I met Mewtwo a while back, before he, err... turned human." Red smiled at Mewtwo, who was tacking a research paper to the wall with a spoon made of his psychic energy.
"Oh really, now did you?" Blaine asked, while turning to Mewtwo.
"I know, I know. I have to learn to trust humans, now that I am one." Mewtwo shrugged his shoulders, knowing full well the lecture the was about to be given by his creator, or rather, his father.
"Ahem, to more important business," Blaine turned back to his research notes, with a more serious tone in his voice, "I've managed to discern the source of the anomaly. Remember the meteor that crashed into the Hoenn region, which brought us the DNA Pokemon Deoxy? Apparently there was another meteor that came in together with that one."
Blaine turned to a computer screen, which showed the trajectory path of the meteor, and a smaller path which crashed into another part of the meteor falls.
"That particular section of the grand meteor carries a substance which has the ability to trigger the innate evolution abilities of Pokemon. However, it crashed into a secluded and sealed off section of the meteor falls, that's why it wasn't discovered until much later," Blaine continued explaining, pointing at the chart.
The Pokedex owners looked at each other, rather puzzled at Blaine's explanation.
"So, the substance you've been talking about is able to trigger the Gijinka phenomenon, but why is it that the effect is being broadcasted around the world?" Yellow asked, with a hand on Pika's head. She had been stroking Pika's hair, trying to remove the static from it.
Blaine put a hand on his chin, "I have absolutely no idea, really. That's why I sent Mewtwo looking for you. I need your help in investigating the areas where the Gijinka phenomenon have been occurring. I have a hunch that someone's behind all this."
At the mention of that, they all remembered the Team Rocket Grunt back in Viridian City. They related the incident to Blaine, who did not look surprised. He shook his head and said, "If it's Team Rocket, I'm not surprised. There were many other high calibre scientists besides me working for Team Rocket at that time. I'm sure one or two of them had stayed behind to do Team Rocket's dirty work. I'll call Professor Oak and infrom him of my findings, in the meantime, I want you to head over to Meteor Falls in Hoenn to collect a sample of the substance for me. I'll call my good friend Professor Cosmos in Fallabor Town to let him know to expect you. Let me remind you not to let any of your Pokemon near that meteor, as it could affect them greatly. I don't know how safe, or stable the process of humanization is for Pokemon, so I would appreciate if you don't get any of your Pokemon into that situation." He said, as he led Red, Yellow, Blue, Chris and their Pokemon out of his lab.
Outside the volcano, Blaine added one final point before he sent them off, "Mewtwo, I want you to go with them. Take the chance to see the world through human eyes."
"What? No! I'm staying here." Mewtwo objected adamantly.
"Go. No excuses." Blaine said sternly, arms crossed.
"Sigh, fine." Mewtwo reluctantly agreed.
"Don't they seem more like father and son now?" Red asked Blue excitedly.
"Hmph." Came a curt reply.
"I think it's nice. If all humans and Pokemon could live like this, I think the world would be so much better." Yellow held Red's hand.
Red smiled back at Yellow, "I fully agree. This way Pokemon would have a voice for themselves too."
"And then we have Team Rocket." Blue finally said. Everyone looked at him, "What? It's true." He said, before Charizard picked him up and opened his waxy orange wings.
Yellow called out her Butterfree and the rest of them clambered on a protesting Aero, and took off into the sky, with Mewtwo flying beside them.
Blaine watched the young trainers and their Pokemon as they left Cinnabar, and thought to himself, "Ahh, how nice it is to be young."
He coughed a few times, and went back into his lab.
TBC.